


Postcards to Haven: Italy

by serendipityxxi



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M, Horses, Italian Food, M/M, Multi, Postcards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-17 14:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8147093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: Duke takes them to a villa in Tuscany. It’s further inland than they've been venturing, but he assures them it’s worth the trip. It’ll be nice to sleep in a bed that isn’t rocking for a few nights Audrey admits.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jadzibelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadzibelle/gifts).



> This story was inspired by [this picture](https://500px.com/photo/143227189/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD-krumlov-by-robert-rieger?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=2962549) and a conversation with @jadzibelle about all the things they'd get up to if they visited Italy. This story would absolutely be at least 50% shorter without her input and ideas so many thanks are in order! <3

Of all the places they’ve visited on this ramble around the world Italy is the most vibrant of them all. The turquoise waters and terracotta roofs of Venice, the goldenrod and shrimp painted buildings of the Amalfi coast, the sunflower yellow and azure blue shutters and doors speckled throughout the country. They eat lunch once at a small cafe in the shade of a trellis of wildly pink bougainvillea flowers that spans the length of the block.

They become more vibrant there as well.

Literally in some cases.

Nathan, in his quest to feel everything now that he can again, dyes his toes purple for three days after falling victim to a tourist trap make your own wine attraction. His face at the sensation of the grapes bursting under his feet was worth it; wild-eyed and open, unabashedly gleeful without shame or the need to hide it.

Audrey feels the need to go dancing and they take her, decked to the nines and drunk off their asses before the night is over on grappa, but they dance. Audrey enjoys Duke’s smooth moves and Nathan’s enthusiastic flailing. They pin her between them, and they all three move together like they do in bed and it is heady and breathtaking. Later, she spins and spins until she feels like a speck of the glitter that coats the bodies moving in the club, sparkling and out of control in a way that breathes of freedom.

Duke, always the showman, spins even wilder, more elaborate tales about his travels here. One night he sneaks them into the kitchen of a five star restaurant in the wee hours, edging towards morning (he knows the chef) and teaches her and Nathan how to make cannelloni from scratch and steals them tiramisu from the fridge. They have dinner for breakfast and go home to the Rouge and make love in the bellini peach sunrise.

Duke has a million friends here, from the grappa-pushing bartender, to a gnarled old man who sits in the park all day and trumps Duke soundly at chess in two out of the three games they play (who knew Duke could even play chess!). He knows a gondolier, he knows the security guy at the Basilica, his Italian sounds pretty perfect compared to Audrey and Nathan’s harsh American accents.

Nathan snipes, wondering why he ever left Italy and Duke rounds on him.

Audrey braces for some flip remark that’ll set Nathan into a funk.

But Duke’s eyes are soft and the words quiet, gravelly. “There are a few things Italy doesn’t have,” is what he says and while the words are flip, the tone is anything but.

Nathan’s slow smile shows how far they have come, shows he understands the words Duke doesn’t say now, understands that sometimes Duke cannot bring himself to use the words he needs, though he has been trying more often lately.

\-------------

Duke takes them to a villa in Tuscany. It’s further inland than they have been venturing, but he assures them it’s worth the trip. It’ll be nice to sleep in a bed that isn’t rocking for a few nights Audrey admits. They rent a snazzy little sports car and Duke drives while Nathan stretches out across the backseat and lets the wind ruffle his hair. The horizon rolls away in patchwork squares of green and bronze, with actual hay bales in some of the fields and tall, proud cypress trees guarding the path to most of the houses. Mist hangs softly in the mornings and the creeping reds of autunno are just beginning to touch the trees but the sunlight falls as golden as sparkling wine in the afternoons.

The little villa Duke had mentioned and then promptly stopped speaking of (not suspicious at all, Duke Crocker) is nestled on the outskirts of a charming little village with cobblestoned streets. The walls of the houses are bedecked with vines gone red and orange and copper with the season. The butcher’s and the baker’s places are right next to each other on the tiny main street and Nathan cracks a joke wondering if they still have the candlestick maker too. Audrey laughs but assures him he has no leg to stand on as Haven is just as quaint and backwards, making Duke chuckle.

Duke goes quiet as he turns onto the long winding drive, navigating between the honor guard of cypress trees and pulls up outside a sprawling three storey stone-fronted manse.

The engine has barely turned off when the intricately carved front doors are flung wide and the tiniest little old lady Audrey has ever seen hustles down the stone stairs as fast as her rickety old legs can take her. Duke bends practically double to hug her, responding to her lightning fast Italian tirade indulgently until she is shoved unceremoniously aside by another tiny little old lady who kisses both his cheeks, smacks him lightly on the mouth and then holds his face to stare at him intently.

“You have suffered,” she clucks in English, her voice heavy and rich for all her petite frame. Duke ducks his head, stammering for an answer while her steady brown eyes search his face. She nods ignoring his flustered words, “But you are mending nicely,” his friend adds, patting his cheek lightly with her soft, wrinkled hand. Duke glances quickly to Audrey and Nathan at her words and the old woman smiles knowingly.

“I am glad you have brought friends who help you to heal,” she says and turns to smile warmly at Audrey and Nathan. Duke scrubs his hand back through his hair and gives an abashed smile.

\----------------

He introduces the little old ladies as the bellisima sorellas (sisters) Cavalcante, even as they tug Audrey and Nathan into welcoming embraces that smell of powder and violets. The one who came out the door first is Lauretta Fiorella, the younger of the two. The older sister is Oriana Marcella, she is clearly the lady of the manor. Nathan blushes and stoops over to receive his hug and kisses with good grace, while Audrey suffers through hers reluctantly.

The sisters bustle them into one of the nearby out buildings, chattering merrily in a mix of English and Italian at a pace so quick Audrey doesn’t even bother trying to keep up. She does catch that they want to know of Duke’s travels and where he has found such pretty companions and are properly shocked to hear he went home.

The building they enter has tall ceilings with dark wooden crossbeams, terracotta floors and heavy old furniture that has clearly stood the test of time. It smells faintly of lemons and echoes with all the voices that have suddenly invaded it. There is an enormous fireplace and fancy brickwork. Audrey hardly believes Duke when he tells them this used to be a hay barn back in the day. Many of the old farms have converted their outbuildings into lodgings in this area, the tourists love the ‘authentic Italian countryside’ schtick.

The sorellas barely let them put their things down before they are herded back to the main house because they must be starving from their trip. The sisters complain Duke (or Belluomo as they call him, which means ‘the handsome man’ Nathan gleefully translates to Audrey under his breath, stifling their giggles so as not to insult their hostesses) is too skinny as they bring out tray after tray. Audrey isn’t sure she’s ever eaten this much in her life! The sisters are wonderful cooks but she’s grateful she has the bottomless pits that are her guys to eat more than their fair share and keep the sisters’ eyes off of her. Lauretta still insists she must not like the food because she’s not eating it even though Audrey has a bite of prosciutto and cheese on the way to her mouth!

“Yeah Audrey,” Duke teases without missing a beat, “don’t you like the food?”

Audrey reaches over and steals his last three olives, pops them in her mouth and chews smugly instead of answering while Duke whines and one of the sisters putters off to get more. (That is another thing about Italy Audrey has learned, there seems to be a never-ending supply of food and drink.)

Duke and the sisters talk for hours that evening, well into the night, extravagant hand gestures get wilder and wilder as the night draws on. They do a good job of including Audrey and Nathan in the conversation they keep it mostly in English apart from the odd phrase that loses something in translation. Duke tells stories of their heroism and anecdotes from life in Haven that omit the Troubles or couches them in other words, allowing Audrey and Nathan to chime in with their thoughts. After a while though Audrey gives up on following the conversation and just leans into Nathan who is slumped against the back of the couch. His stomach is a small bulge through his shirt, still stuffed to the gills, she pats it gently and he huffs into her hair.

They sit quietly, watching Duke as he spins a story for the sorellas his eyes bright, body language wide and open. It’s nice seeing him comfortable. The first few months of their trip he’d spent so much time hunched in on himself, hands tucked close to his body, gestures clipped. They’d needed time away from Haven, Duke had needed time away from Haven, to heal in ways that the rebuilding project hadn’t helped him to.

He is healing nicely just as Oriana had pronounced; showing off to the sisters what he has accomplished, how he has changed, will help in that aspect. The sisters are very fond of Duke, and crow or gush over his accomplishments, after he tells them of the rebuilt Gull they insist he must cook for them. It’s nice meeting people who believe in Duke and Audrey can already tell that the sorellas do unequivocally.

Audrey has dozed off by the time the sisters eventually send them off to bed. Nathan wakes her with a finger down her cheek and a slow smile that she cannot help but return. She stumbles on tired feet towards the door but all thoughts of sleep are gone as they step outside. The world they walk out into is magical. The moon is a pearl in the cloudless blue satin sky, pinpricks of diamond stars wink at them merrily. The fields are awash in the silvery glow of the moonlight, the shadows edged in a cool dark blue. The wind that whispers through the trees and swirls around them is chilly with the breath of fall and full of the scents of rich earth and green life that hasn’t decided to bed down for the winter quite yet.

Audrey pauses in their trek across the courtyard and takes a deep breath, staring wide-eyed across the fields.

“It’s like a postcard,” she breathes, thinking of the one foster family Audrey Prime had that had a refrigerator door plastered with postcards from all over the place. One of the grown up foster sons kept sending them. Audrey Prime had been jealous, had sworn one day she’d go to all those places, anywhere that wasn’t Nowhere, Ohio. Knowing those weren’t her memories hadn’t stopped her from feeling the disappointment when she’d walked into the Barn that she’d never get to see life outside of Haven, Maine. It didn’t stop her from feeling the tug every time they faced a scene like this on her trip.

She tucks one arm through Duke’s and the other through Nathan’s and pulls them close, drinking in the view and the night and their warm solid bulk next to hers.

\-------------

In the morning when they wake Duke has already been out of the house if the mud on his jeans is any indication. His hair is falling out of its’ ponytail and the grin on his face is wider than Audrey’s ever seen, it lights his eyes and makes him seem younger. Audrey has a sudden flash to high school aged Duke she’d met just before the Hunter but that Duke hadn’t been this at ease or open.

“Where’ve you been?” Nathan asks, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Duke is more of a night owl than a morning person.

“I will show you after breakfast,” he promises, stealing a kiss from Audrey as he passes, headed for the bathroom.

After breakfast as promised Duke takes them out to the stables and introduces them to the sorellas’ horses. The villa used to be a proper horse farm, they raised thoroughbreds who won races by the dozen if the wall of ribbons and trophies is anything to go by. That was when the sorellas’ husbands were alive. None of the children were interested in raising horses and so the stables have slowly emptied but for a few special horses.

Duke rubs the nose of a tall chestnut mare as he speaks, the long lean lines of both their bodies are loose, comfortable. She lips his hand and Audrey is sure for a moment that Duke will emerge from this encounter missing a few fingers but surprisingly he just laughs and wipes his spitty palm off on his jeans.

Something in her knows this, recognizes the scent of hay and leather saddles and horse manure that you can never get out of a stable. It unsettles Audrey the way every memory from another incarnation does. It’s to be expected, cars have only been a thing for the last hundred years or so. Of course her previous incarnations would know about horses. The horses are big and there are so many of them, their faces peering curiously over the stall doors.

Nathan is of course charmed entirely by the horses, and while he probably thinks he looks cool and collected as he goes from stall to stall letting each horse sniff his palm in introduction, offering rubs and scritches, the grin on his face gives him away.

Audrey stands back and watches, a bemused smile on her face, hands in her pockets. She’s not going to ruin this for them. She is in fact charmed by how much they’re enjoying this, Duke especially. His hands are gentle and sure as he greets each horse by name, murmurs something about their personality to Nathan.

Nathan looks ready to burst from glee when Duke fishes a bag of baby carrots out of a pocket and hands it to him. Then he makes the rounds again bribing the horses into loving him, not that it takes much with all that affection in his voice and hands. Audrey knows just how impossible that is to resist. Two of the outgoing ones lean into his touch, nuzzling his shoulder, covering the sleeve of his shirt in horse saliva.

Duke comes to stand beside her once he’s sure Nathan isn’t going to offend one of his precious ponies.

“Didn’t you ask me for a pony one time?”

Audrey laughs remembering that ill-fated birthday party. “You’re a little late on the delivery, Crocker,” she complains.

“Are you scared of the mean horsies, Audrey?” he teases.

“What?” Audrey sputters but Duke’s gaze is knowing.

“I’m not scared of horses, Duke,” Audrey denies. She’s not. Horses are herbivores. There’s no reason to think they’d take a bite out of you. Audrey wonders briefly if the idea is a remnant from another overlay, some incarnation that lived through Troubled horses that tried to eat people. She sincerely hopes not.

Duke doesn’t even dignify her assertion with a response. He just laces his long fingers through hers and tugs her gently forward. They go to the last stall in the line that has to have the biggest horse in the place. He’s huge, all velvety black hide and mane and clever brown eyes. He stomps his enormous hooves and whinnies, clearly excited to see Duke. Duke grins back at him, eyes full of unveiled warmth.

“This is Orso,” Duke introduces proudly. He strokes the horse’s nose with warm, caring fingers and is nuzzled fiercely in return. “It means,” he pauses to grin, “bear,”

Audrey has to admit it’s apt. The horse is huge and does indeed remind her of the bear that attacked the Teagues back when she’d first come to Haven. Duke takes her hands and leads her fingers to Orso’s nose, letting him sniff her. Behind them Nathan chuckles and says something in a cutesy voice to another of the horses. She rolls her eyes and Orso takes the opportunity to lip her palm, hoping for the carrots Nathan is being so free with. It’s a weird feeling, soft and sticky and warm. Audrey resists the urge to shriek and yank her hand back. Barely.

“There now, see, he likes you,” Duke says and Audrey can hear the laugh in his voice.

Audrey rolls her eyes.

Duke is so damn excited about his stupid ponies Audrey does not have the heart to refuse to at least try riding.

Audrey Prime has never had lessons and so Audrey Parker has never had lessons.

“What, the FBI doesn’t have an equestrian branch?” Duke teases.

“You’re thinking of the Mounties,” Audrey grumps back.

Nathan is too gleeful to even be bothered by their banter. He’d brushed and curried and picked out blankets for his mount as if he’d been doing it his entire life instead of watching the ten minutes it had taken Duke to saddle Orso for Audrey.

Duke gives them an extensive lecture on horsemanship that Nathan listens to raptly and Audrey listens to with trepidation. She already knows most of the guidelines he explains without ever having set foot in a stable before.

Duke mounts the chestnut mare he’d started them with that morning. Her name is Calligena, which means daughter of beauty he tells them smugly. Then he dismounts and remounts again so they get the idea. His movements are smooth, fluid, you’d never guess he wasn’t riding just yesterday. Audrey cannot even deny that it’s pretty hot watching him do that. Those jeans do excellent things for his ass and the pair of riding boots he’s dug up from somewhere don’t hurt either.

Once he’s through with the demonstration - and Audrey has no clue where she gets the idea that he’s just showing off for them - he lets them try.

First Duke holds the stirrup on Stella, a dappled silver-grey horse, for Nathan. The lighter patches really do look like stars shining out of her coat. Nathan is besotted with her instantly. He plants his foot in the stirrup and attempts to swing himself up with dignity and grace but instead flops around on his horse like a landed fish for long moments before Duke gets hold of the back of his thigh and heaves him into position. Nathan sits up, clears his throat and takes hold of the reins Duke hands him.

“Don’t do anything,” Duke warns.

“I’m not you,” Nathan argues. He does lean forward to stroke Stella’s neck and probably whisper sweet nothings in her ear. Audrey’s starting to get worried he’s going to want a horse when they get back to Haven.

Duke cups his hands and gives Audrey a leg up onto Orso. She is a long, long way from the ground when he’s through. It’s almost uncomfortable straddling Orso’s wide back. He shifts as if feeling her displeasure and Audrey jolts, grabbing for the reins.

“Close your knees, babe,” Duke tells her tapping at her right knee.

“That’s not what you usually say to me,” she sasses to cover her nerves, tilting her knees inward as best she can anyway.

“I won’t say it to you when you’re back on the ground,” Duke promises with a leer. He adjusts Audrey’s stirrups, first the right then the left, taps at her ankle, “Heels down,” he reminds her.

Duke walks Orso forward enough to take Stella’s reins from Nathan. He clicks his tongue and the horses plod slowly around the field or paddock or whatever the hell it’s called, letting them get used to being in the saddle. Audrey jolts along for the ride and is by turns terrified of going right over Orso’s head and frustrated because slow.

“Heels down,” Duke taps her ankle again. Audrey grimaces but does as she’s told feeling the stretch in her calf muscles. “Try to hold on with your knees and let the rest of your body move with the horse,” he suggests.

Audrey tries.

She tries shifting from side to side with Orso’s movements.

She tries leaning back.

She tries leaning forward.

Nothing helps, she’s convinced she’s going to fall off the stupid horse and onto Duke’s head and he will deserve it.

It definitely doesn’t help that Nathan- I couldn’t feel my body for years - Wuornos is so at ease on his horse. He doesn’t look like he’s about to fall off. He looks in fact like he was born to this, the long lean lines of his back adjusting naturally to the rhythm of the hooves beneath him. It’s a nice view Audrey will admit. And even nicer to see Nathan content. They reach the end of the stretch of fence and have to turn and Audrey really does almost slide right off her horse. She clutches the saddle and Duke puts his hand on her knee.

“You okay? You need to get down?” he asks kindly.

“You’re overthinking it, Parker,” Nathan Wuornos of all people tells her.

Audrey and Duke laugh at the irony of the source of the advice. Nathan rolls his eyes but a slow smile spreads across his face in the early morning sunshine nevertheless. There is no offense at their laughter at him. He is in on the joke not aggravated by it. What a change from where they started.

“Just sit for a minute, okay?” Duke suggests, handing her the reins.

Audrey makes an aborted panic face at him then nods. Sit. On the horse. By herself. Sure. She can do that.

Duke walks over to Nathan and before she knows it Nathan has nudged Stella into a walk all by his lonesome.

Orso shifts under Audrey and she tenses then forces herself to relax. She carefully leans down over Orso’s neck. He flicks an ear back at her.

“Listen,” she says, feeling a little foolish that she’s talking to a horse. “I won’t mess with you if you won’t mess with me,” she promises him and Orso’s ear flicks forward again. He shies to one side a little and Audrey clings tighter with her knees. “But if you mess with me buddy, I’ll sell you for glue,” she tells him cheerfully.

Orso snuffles, shies back the other way and then shivers from head to toe and trots forward after Stella amiably.

This time each bump seems to wake up something in Audrey, some deeply hidden sense memory. She straightens her spine and clenches her knees, presses her heels into the stirrrups more firmly and then...then she’s riding. She nudges Orso into putting on more speed and they trot up to Nathan and Duke.

“Audrey!” Duke calls out in alarm but Audrey knows what she’s doing now. She leans forward in her seat and suddenly she and Orso are cantering forward, racing over the field.

Dimly she can hear Nathan and Duke shouting after her but there’s nothing but the wind whistling in her ears and tugging at her hair. They gallop to the other end of the field and take the corner smoothly, Orso’s hooves hit the ground in a rhythm that echoes in her heart, Audrey can feel her blood singing in her veins. Some part of her knows this. She _knows this._ She’s _missed this._ Audrey whoops and takes the third corner as easily as the second. They stop on a dime next to Nathan and Duke and Stella.

After that first morning they go out every day. They start to learn their horses personalities. Stella is every bit as sweet and good natured as she was on the first day. Orso is a trickster, he can untie any knot and will not stay where he is put. Audrey threatens him with cement shoes more than once. Calli is a diva, she needs to be greeted first, before anyone else or she will be upset the whole time.

Audrey walks into the stable one afternoon to find Nathan and Duke standing very still. Duke’s got his hands on Nathan’s wrists, long fingers looped around them. “Not like that,” he’s telling him. “Horses can only focus on one thing at a time,” he explains, “when Stella’s nuzzling you just let her, be still, she’s showing you she cares, when you pet her you’re taking over. Give her a chance to show-” Duke breaks off as Stella nuzzles right into Nathan’s shirt.They both laugh and let Stella nuzzle her face against Nathan’s chest, rocking him gently back with the force of it.

Duke brings up his and Nathan’s hands and scritches along Stella’s neck in turn now.

Audrey watches them, her chest tight and full. Even now, with over a year together under their belts it’s rare to see Duke and Nathan being this soft with each other. They squabble and complain and occasionally sway to the other’s whims in short surprising ways. Though the animosity of their interactions is long gone the pure affection is often couched in antagonizing the other. So Audrey savors the way Nathan allows Duke to guide him without hesitation, the tenderness in the way Duke’s fingers are cupped around Nathan’s, Duke’s dark head bent towards Nathan as he speaks lulling both man and horse into peace with his voice. Audrey files the moment away for safekeeping. Italy has brought quite a few she will keep and take out and look over when times are hard later on in life.

“Never thought much of horses,” Nathan tells Duke as they stroke Stella together. “Liked em well enough just…”

“Not a lot of horses in Haven,” Duke agrees. “I learned a lot when I worked with Orso and Calli here in ‘04, helped the sorellas out for a couple months. Horses are nice. Easier than people,” Duke admits. “You always know where you stand with a horse. Never any doubt if they like you, they trust you. They don’t judge you on who you are just how you treat them.”

Nathan is silent for long moments, digesting the implications of Duke’s words Audrey guesses. She knows she is.

Nathan opens his mouth and Audrey holds her breath, wonders if he’s going to address what Duke said.

Instead Nathan leans more firmly into their boyfriend’s embrace and tells him “Something settling ‘bout being around them, riding, feels real, solid, like I’m really in my skin. Been helpful,” he confesses and Audrey smiles, it’s better than an apology, in the language of Nathan and Duke. Nathan sharing a confidence like that of his own with Duke shows that he trusts him.

When Nathan turns his head and kisses Duke, Audrey slips away, lets them have their moment.

\--------------

She has another postcard moment she files away a few days later when they go out riding late one afternoon. The sun is setting over the fields laying a golden patina over everything, the forest looms to the right a black silhouette against all that rosy light.

They rise on a crest in the rolling landscape. Spread out below them is a valley, green as anything. There’s a trail spearing through it, a dusty brown ribbon stretching out as far as the eye can see. If Audrey had been on a bicycle she’d be contemplating speeding down the other side as fast as she could.

Duke has been annoyingly nervous about letting them move faster than a trot as he teaches them horsemanship and Audrey reins up beside him and they wait for Nathan to catch up. He and Stella move at their own meandering pace most of the time, Audrey imagines he’s cataloguing images in his mind and with his phone for the paintings this trip will inspire when they are back on the Rouge.

They stand and gaze over the countryside for long silent moments, drinking it in. Then Duke gives Audrey a wink, “catch me if you can Coppers,” he announces and nudges Calli into a canter.

They are off and down the side of the valley in a blink. Audrey gives a whoop and urges Orso after him, Nathan and Stella hot on her heels. They race across the fields the wind tugging at Audrey’s hair and the sun on her cheeks. The speed and the thunder of the hooves sings in her blood, is its own form of magic. Whoever she was when she learned this she’s Audrey Parker now and she’s _earned this_ freedom. Audrey wants to ride like this forever, straight to the horizon and on past.

\-------------

In the second week, near the end of their visit to the sorellas, one of the great grandchildren has a birthday. It is only then that Audrey really understands Italian hospitality. The Sorellas daughters and granddaughters come out in force, decorating and cooking, ordering their children around like generals on a battlefield in rapid, sharp Italian phrases that make Nathan twitch like if he knew what they were saying he’d be following orders too.

Duke is immediately dragged into the preparations, merged right into the melee that is the sorellas extended family as if he hadn’t been gone for years. Audrey and Nathan hover on the fringes, trying to avoid being noticed. They snicker as one of the granddaughters argues with Duke over the amount of some spice or other that should be added to a dish neither of them can pronounce. The granddaughter throws up her hands and shouts “Americano!” with such disgust Audrey and Nathan cannot help but crack up.

Several pairs of eyes turn on them and then suddenly Nathan is in charge of stringing the twinkle lights and Audrey has been pressed into rolling out the dough for something. Duke swipes a line of flour down her cheek and kisses her nose as he passes. Audrey gooses him and makes the whole kitchen laugh. She listens as the granddaughters and their mothers banter, the sorellas riding herd over the whole process. It’s nice, a little like when Audrey Prime’s nuns would sit down on a Sunday night and tell stories to the children in the home. It makes her wonder what Mara’s life was like, if she and Charlotte were ever a part of a room full of family like this.

Dinner is a loud affair, even when all the food is on the table the noise level never dips and there is a lot of food. It seems like a never ending stream of dishes – three different kinds of pasta including baked ziti with a sauce so good Audrey tells Duke she will stage a mutiny, take over captaining the Rouge and leave him here in Italy if he doesn’t get the recipe.

“You wouldn’t let her do that would you, Nate?” he appeals to Nathan.

Nathan gives Audrey a lazy salute and says “Could keelhaul him too, Parker,”

Duke collapses back into his chair with incoherent noises of betrayal.

Everyone around the table laughs at his antics.

Orso joins the celebrations about an hour in. He has a trick of getting out of his stall that no one can figure out or they’d stop him. He never goes far, mostly comes to look for the sorellas wherever they happen to be. Tonight he trots into the courtyard and stands before the glass doors looking around as if asking where’s my plate. The family bursts into laughter and one of the granddaughters gets up to take him back. Audrey is absolutely not jealous of someone else handling the horse that does not belong to her.

At some point before dinner breaks up Nathan slips away. Audrey lets him go knowing he probably has reached his limit of people for tonight. She’s close to being all tapped out herself but Duke is soaking it all in and if they both disappear he’ll feel compelled to come find them. The wine helps and the fact that most of the talk has slipped back into Italian so she can tune most of it out.

Almost an hour later she manages to duck out in search of Nathan. She’s wondering if he’s gone back to their rooms when she passes the sitting room and hears his voice. Audrey sticks her head around the door to find Nathan and one of the great grandkids, a boy of about ten, are sitting on the floor in the middle of a very elaborate set of train tracks.

Duke comes up behind Audrey and pauses in the doorway to watch the scene. He huffs a quiet laugh against her hair, his hand warm on her hip.

“Quando arriva…” Nathan stumbles over the unfamiliar words from the translator app on the smartphone Duke had insisted they needed when they started this trip. They have proven invaluable though Audrey did a lot of swearing at hers at first. “…il treno da Roma?” Nathan asks.

The kid howls with laughter at his pronunciation then taps frantically at his phone and reads in slow careful tones; ”The train from Rome arrives at eight,” he looks up at Nathan and beams when he’s done. Nathan grins brilliantly like the kid just cracked nuclear fusion or something.

“Choo choo!” Nathan pulls an imaginary whistle and the kid cracks up again.

“He really is the least cool person I know,” Duke murmurs into her ear.

“I know,” Audrey agrees shaking her head wryly. “I have no idea how he makes it work for him.”

Duke’s answering chuckle draws Nathan’s attention to them. He blushes and starts to rise but Duke waves him back down.

“Stay, have fun with your new friend,” Duke smirks at the kid, tousles his hair, tells him something in Italian that makes the kid laugh again.

Audrey follows Duke to the kitchen where he rolls up his sleeves and pitches in on the dishes, nudging a pretty teenaged granddaughter out of the way with a wink and a hip bump. She blushes and says something to another one as she heads out. Audrey catches the word Belluomo and smirks at him. Duke flicks water at her.

Slowly the sink empties out. One of the sorellas, Oriana, comes in and sits next to Audrey who’s leaning her propped elbows on the counter.

“Such a good boy,” she praises Duke, “so helpful,” she says as if he too is ten years old. Duke laughs but Audrey can hear he’s embarrassed by the compliment. That means it means something to him. Audrey is pleased. Duke doesn’t get a lot of praise from people whose opinion he values. He’s not particularly good at accepting it either but then again neither are she and Nathan.

One of the daughters-in-law comes in and drops another stack of dishes in the sink. She pauses to ask Oriana how they met such a helpful handsome man.

Audrey’s ears perk. He never actually explained how he knows the sorellas. She’s intrigued to hear the answer, especially when Duke honest to god blushes.

“Duke, he came to steal a horse,” Oriana declares.

“Well now, it was more like –“ Duke protests but doesn’t get far.

“It was theft! I was not born yesterday mi belluomo,” she rolls her eyes at Audrey, “this one, he-“

“I was here to bargain with the sorellas for Orso,” Duke interrupts.

“Sent by the Morettis,” Oriana screws up her face in distaste.

“They were an up and coming horse farm at the time,” Duke explains to Audrey. “Very interested in race horses.”

“Criminals! The lot of them!” Oriana swears.

Duke does not disagree with her.

“They send Duke to barter because he is handsome and charming. They think we are old ladies who will fall for a pretty face and sell our prize for nothing because our husbands are dead,” Oriana gestures violently as she speaks. Audrey hopes she got her hands on those horse thieves.

“And that was the real crime. He knew nothing of horses and his accent…” Lauretta puts in, a fond smile on her wrinkled face as she walks into the kitchen.

Audrey laughs.

“He was so skinny,” Oriana remembers.

“Skittish like the colts,” Lauretta puts in.

“I was neither skinny nor skittish,” Duke protests.

“We put him to work in the stables. We told him we would discuss selling Orso only if he could prove he personally could care for him. In the meantime if he was eating well and sleeping well and getting good strong exercise?” Oriana spread her hands in a gesture Audrey had seen Duke make dozens of times. “Well that was a happy side benefit,” Oriana explains with a wink.

“I knew it!” Duke exclaims, hands waving wildly, “Hoodwinked! Played by two little old ladies!” Duke shakes his finger at the sorellas.

Oriana rolls her eyes at Duke. “What is the saying? We gave as good as we got?” she teases.

The room erupts into laughter and then from the lawn comes the sound of a child’s wail.

The daughter-in-law sighs and takes off at a run, leaving just Duke, Audrey and the sorellas in the kitchen.

“How long did you guys trick him into staying?” Audrey asks.

“Oh, not long,” Oriana says with a sly grin.

“He fell in love with Calligena, and when she broke her leg the trick was up. He stayed with us for months nursing her back to health all of his own accord,” Lauretta smiles.

Duke blushes. “It wasn’t like she’d take her antibiotics from anyone else,” he excuses.

“He has a good heart our Belluomo,” Lauretta pats Duke’s cheek. “Also a great culo,” she says and slaps the area she means. Duke hops forward and Audrey cackles.

\-----------------

The day they are due to leave the sorellas Audrey is pretty sure Duke wakes up at three a.m. and goes out to spend his last night with Calli. Nathan all but promises Stella he’ll write to her. She can’t tease them much though, her eyes are distinctly misty as she offers Orso one last carrot. He lips it from her hand and the sensation is no longer weird, doesn’t make her want to scream at all. She won’t think about what it does make her want to do.

Duke hefts Nathan’s suitcase into the trunk. “This isn’t heavy enough to have a horse in it.”

Nathan grunts and heaves Audrey’s in. “Parker’s is.”

They both give her suspicious looks.

Orso saves her by trotting into the courtyard at just that minute, he’s escaped his stall for the fiftieth time.

Audrey walks him back to the stable on her own, leaving the boys to be hugged and kissed and cooed over by the sorellas. If she buries her face in Orso’s neck and hugs him before she leaves no one is there to see or comment on the damp spots on his coat when she pulls away.

“So long, Glue Stick,” she murmurs rubbing a hand down his nose and Orso huffs in response.

 

 The boys are getting in the car by the time she gets back but the sorellas are waiting for her. Audrey submits to their hugs with more grace than on day one. The sorellas have proven to be good people.

Lauretta holds Audrey in her skinny arms and murmurs in her ear, “Thank you for taking care of our Duke’s good heart. Keep it safe for us,” she asks.

Oriana’s hug adds “Or we will make you very sorry you did not. There is a reason they make all those movies about the Italian mob.”

Audrey laughs and squeezes Oriana.

“Thank you for taking care of it first,” she whispers.

When she gets in the car she’s still laughing.

“They threatened me!” she tells the boys, incredulous.

In the front seat Nathan laughs. “Me too,” he tells her.

“Me three,” Duke agrees sounding affronted. “Guess they liked you. Might have to keep you both around,” he winks at Nathan. “Takes a lot of effort to get the sorellas to approve of anyone.”

Nathan makes a scoffing sound. “Can’t be that hard, they liked you,” he teases.

“Well Nate, we can’t all be as charming and delightful as yours truly,” Duke smirks, leaning back in his seat, getting comfortable.

Nathan huffs but drops his free hand to rest on the back of Duke’s neck as he pulls out onto the road. “Keep telling yourself that, Belluomo,” he snarks.

In the back seat Audrey lets a soft smile cross her face as she watches Nathan’s thumb gently stroke the back of Duke’s neck.


End file.
